arndt



F. E. ARNDT.

CONTROLLING GATE FOR UNLOADING CHUTES.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 21. 1919.

1,322,5 1 2. Patnted Nov. 25, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

F. E. ARNDT. CONTROLLING GATE FOR UNLOADING CHUTES.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 21. 1919.

1 ,322, 5 1 2. I Patented Nov. 25, 1919.

2 swims-sun 2.

muemlioz srssran V FRANKLIN E. ARN'DT, OF GALION, OHIO, ASSIGN OR TO THE GALION IRON WORKS & MFG.

00., OF GALION, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO.

CONTROLLING-GATE FOR UNLOADING-GHUTES.

To all whom it may concern: 7 Be it known that I, FRANKLIN E. ARNDT, a'citizen of the United States, residing at Galion, in the county of Crawford and State of Ohio, have invented certain new f and useful Improvements in Controlling- Gates for Unloading-Chutes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to unloading'mechanism, and p articularlyto means for transferring stone, coal, or other like material from bottom discharge railway cars, and an elevator or storage bin alongside of the track, said apparatus of this character including an inclined trough or chute which is disposed'beneath the track and receives the contents of the hopper bottom or similar cars. 7

The general object of my invention isto provide an improved gate for closing the discharge outlet from the .chute and provide improved gate operating means for this purpose so constructed that the operating arm or lever may be detached from: the gate operating means so that the mechanism will then be all disposed below the surfaceof the ground and out of the way. I A further object of this invention is to provide a cover or door adapted to .close the pin into which the chute discharges and which, when closed, will cover and entirely conceal the gatecoperating mechanism and prevent anything from accidentally tum- .bling into the pit. 35

is to provideimproved means 'for support- And a further object in this connection ing this'door or cover in a vertically dis- Other objects will; appear 1n the course of the following description.

, My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein V Figure 1 1s aside elevation of an elevator and unloader constructed in accordance with' my '1I1V8I1l31011 .formed of sheet metal and has laterally dis {posed side walls 11 -and a bottom wall 12. .The chute is disposed in a-suitableexcavaper face of the door.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patentefl NO 25, 1919; Application filed' February 21, .1919. Serial No. 278,493. I

tion'in the ground as, for instance, beneath a railway track, and the, lower end of the chute is designed to discharge into a pit 13, and specifically into an elevator bucket normallyv disposed in the pit to receive the contents of the chute, but which may be raised to any suitable .height to discharge the contents of the bucket. The upper end of this pit 13 is entirely unobstructed when the apparatus is in use, but when it is not in use, the upper end of the pit is closed by a pit door 14: which has a length greater than that of the pit so it may rest on the concrete end walls of the pit, and this door is hinged bystrap iron hinges 15 to hinge members operatively connected to the side walls 11 of the trough. In order to support the door 14 in a vertical position, I attach to the door, preferably at both ends, the members 16 which are formed of round iron bars angularly bent at their lower ends, as. at 17 and rotatably mounted in strap iron bearings 18 attached to the up- These supporting members 16 may thus be rotated to carry their angular ends either into a position at right angles to the door 1 1 and projecting toward the pit 13 orout of such position. Wheni theyv are disposed in the first position, they will 1 support the door in its raised posltion, but they may be readily rotated to an inoperative position to per-- mit thedoor to 'be lowered whereupon, as before remarked, the door entirely closes the top of the pit. Attached to the side walls and bottom wall of the chute 10 at the discharge end thereof and forming a discharge mouth for the chute or extension,

is a member 19 which is U-shaped, in cross projecting into the pit as illustrated, and attached to the side walls of the member 7 19 are the downwardly and forwardly extending strap irons 20. Attached to this chute mouth 19 is the bucket filling chute 21 which is'likewise U-shaped'incross section and this is braced by means of oppositely disposed strap irons 22 which. extend rearward and at their'rear ends are pivot- ..ed to the projecting ends of the strap irons 20, as at 23. This bucket filling chute 21 is turned down to discharge the contents'of the chute 11 When the bucket is'in place shifted from one socket to the other.

up out of the when the bucket ,isito be raised. For the purpose of providing.

manually operable means for shifting this bucket filling chute 21, I attach to the side walls of the chute 21 and specifically to the are the two longitudinally extending bars 29 which, at their upper ends, are pivoted to a head 30. This head 30 is bifurcated, the slit in the head extending parallel to the pivot bolt for the member 30, and piv-v oted to this member 30 and disposed in the bifurcated portion thereof is the arm 31, which is carried by a member 32 which is pivoted upon a shaft 33 extending through suitable bearings formed upon or carried by one side wall of the chute 10. Also mounted on shaft 33 is a member 32 which is of the same construction as the member 32, and the members 32 and 32 are each provided with a socket 33 designed to receive .an operating lever 31 which may be levers 34: may be used, one for each socket, or

onelever may be transferred from one socket I andthat when it is rotated in 'a counterclockwise direction, the bucket filling chute will be lowered so as to form an extension of the main chute.

It is likewise desirable and is one of the objects of my invention to provide a vertically sliding gate controlling the dis charge of material from the main chute, and provide means whereby this gate shall be lowered when the auxiliary chute 21 is raised, and raised when the-auxiliary chute 21. is depressed. To this end, I provide an arm 35 extending outward from the -member 32 and pivot to the axis of this arm a link 36 which, at its lower end, is connected to the cross bar 37 of a sliding gate 38. This gate is formed of sheet iron and slides behind vertical angle irons 39 attached to the side walls of the chute 10.

This sliding gate or cut off 38 is provided with vertical angle irons 40' which bear .against the inner edges of the angle irons 39 and hold the gate from sidewise movement while permitting the gate to be raised or lowered; Extending crosswise of the gate and disposed behind it, is a head 41 which is angularly bent at its ends, and at- Two tached to the outer flanges of the angle irons 39 by the .same rivets which hold these an; gle irons in place upon the side walls of the chute."

It will be seen that with this construction the auxiliary chute 21 may be raised or lowered under the action of lever 34: and that the gate 38 may be raised or lowered under the actionof said lever. By this means, the discharge of material from the main chute may be regulated and the-material may be allowed to flow freely or be impeded in this flow bydecreasing the angle of the auxiliary chute and correspondingly lowering the gate, or, asbefore remarked, the flow of material may be cut off altogether so that there will be no pressure of material against the auxiliary chute which would resist the turn:

ing of this auxiliary chute to its closed po-' ground and that, therefore, when .the lever or levers 34 are removed from these sockets 33, the door 14: which constitutes a platform, may be turned to a horizontal position to entirely close the opening of the pit. Of course, at this time, the cut off 38 will be closed and thus the arm 35 will have been lowered to a position below the surface of the ground.

In the operation,"the bucket is lowered to the bottom of pit when chute 21 is up and gate 38 is down. Then the operator lowers chute 21, the gate 38 being stillkclosed. After lowering the chute 21, the operator takes hold of handle and opens the sliding gate and regulates the flow of material to suit. When the bucket has been filled, the sliding gate is lowered and then the chuteis raised to permit the raising of the bucket. Q It will be seen that I have provided very simple and thoroughly efir'ective means for controlling the discharge of material fromthe main chute into the bucket in the pit,

and that this means includes operating levers 34: which are detachable from their sockets so that the door to the "pit may be closed and leave nothing projecting above the ground which might form an obstruction or whichfwouldinduce accidental or mischievous manipulation of the mechanism.

While-I have illustrated a, construction which I have found to be very efiectiv'eiin actual use, and whichis thoroughly practical, yet it is obvious that many of the details of construction might be changed with-.

tlon.

' I claim V r 1. In a machine of the character described,

out departing from thespirit of the invena chute discharging into the" pit and having a vertical wall at its discharge end spaced from the bottom of the chute to de-' 'fine a -discha rge outlet,1an auxiliary chute 'operatlvely pivoted to the side walls of the first named chute and shiftable vertically, a vertically sliding cut oil mounted at the discharge end of the main chuteand adapted to close the discharge opening, and manually operable means for raising and lowering the auxiliary chute and for raising or lowering the cut off and including operating members disposed below the level of the top of the main chute, and a lever detachab-ly engageable with said members.

2. In a machine of the character described, a chute discharging into the pit and having a vertical wall at its discharge end spaced from the bottom of the chute to define a discharge outlet, a mouth having side walls disposed at the discharge opening of the chute, an auxiliary chute pivoted to the side walls of the mouth and shiftable vertically, a vertically sliding out 01f mounted at the discharge end of the chute and adapted to close the discharge opening, manually operable means for raising or lowering the auxiliary chute and for raising or lowering the out OE and including operating members rotatably supported upon the walls of the main chute, a series of jointed links operatively connected to one of said operating members and to the extremity of the auxiliary chute, a link connecting the other operating member to the cut OE, and lever detachably engageable with either operating member, said operating members being disposed below the level of the upper edge of the main chute.

3. In a mechanism of the character described, a main chute having side walls and a bottom, a vertical wall attached to the side walls and spaced from the bottom to provide a discharge opening, an auxiliary chute operatively pivoted to the main chute,

operatively connected to the cut off and to Y an arm on said operating member, a socket on each operating member adapted to receive an operating handle, the operating members being disposed below the level of the top of the chute, and a door operatively hinged to the top of the main chute and shittable to or from a vertical position into or from a horizontal position, and in the last named position extending over the operating members.

l. The combination with a chute and a pit into which said chute discharges, of an auxiliary chute operatively pivoted to the discharge end of the main chute, a door operatively hinged to the upper end of the main chute and adapted when turned to a horizontal position to extend across the top of the pit, operating members rotatably mounted upon a Wall of the main chute extending into the pit and each having an arm and a socket, a plurality of link sections pivotally connected to each other for movement in difl'erent planes and connecting one of said 

